Aitor Karanka has reflected that Real Madrid have had worse decisions go against them than Valencia believe they had last night.

Los Che fell to a 2-0 defeat to Los Blancos in the first leg of this Cup quarter-final, but left the Bernabeu aggrevied at the officials for a number of decisions, including a couple of tight offside calls against Roberto Soldado when otherwise through one on one.

“The plays of which you speak of are not over a goal that was scored,” reflected Karanka to reporters afterwards.

“We have had a few that have actually been a goal and been shown that they were either a goal or that there should have been no doubt, and in that case, the rules say you have to keep playing, so it is detrimental to some extent.

“Theirs? No. The result could have been different because both teams have had chances. Both have failed and it could have been 3-1 or something like that. But not for the referee.”

The assistant Coach, who was talking in Jose Mourinho’s place once more, denied that the team are prioritising only the Cup competitions, with an 18-point deficit to Barcelona in the League in mind.

“You always want to play well and win. I always say that it is very difficult. It is very difficult to change your mindset.

“In the League we have not been disconnected. We continue to stress this because if not, it will cost us when going into the Cup and Champions League games.”

Karanka then ran through a number of players by name from Tuesday’s win, including full-back Marcelo, who featured from the start.

“Both he and Higuain have had serious injuries. The two have been out for a while, Marcelo has to go slowly. He is very important to us. He has had three months out and that is many. Coentrao is fine and it was a time to use them both.

“Alonso and Khedira? They have had time playing together and what counts is the fitness and confidence that they both have.

“They are awesome. Sami has been in impressive form since his injury. He is a player who may go under the radar a bit, but we know how hard he works. It's nice to see how he plays, how he get into positions up front and how he picks up balls at the back. He is an important player for us.”